Notes to Pages 409—412 507
troduction and notes, by Eckart Förster, translated by Eckart Förster and Stan¬
ley Rosen (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993). See also Übergang,
Untersuchungen zum Spätwerk Immanuel Kants, edited by the Forum für Philoso¬
phie Bad Homburg (Siegfried Blasche, Wolfgang R. Köhler, Wolfgang Kuhlmann,
Peter Rohs) (Frankfurt [Main]: Vittorio Klostermann, 1991). This volume pro¬
vides the necessary background to the recent discussion of the Opus postumum.
- See Eckart Förster, "Introduction," Kant, Opus postumum, pp. xvi f.
- König, "Arzt und ärztliches in Kant," pp. 113—154.
- Wasianski, Kant, p. 283.
- Hasse, Ausserungen Kant's, p. 2on.
- Hans Vaihinger, "Briefe aus dem Kantkreis," Altpreussische Monatsschrift 17(1880),
pp. 286-299, p. 290.
- Briefe von und an Scheffner, ed. Warda, II, p. 424
- Most of the authors in Übergang, Untersuchungen zum Spätwerk Immanuel Kants,
seem to believe this.
- I disagree with Eckart Förster on this. He claims in his "Fichte, Beck and
Schelling in Kant's Opus Postumum," in Kant and His Influence, ed. G. M. Ross
andT. McWalter (Bristol: Thoemmes, 1990), pp. 146—169, p. 146, that "the man¬
uscript is virtually complete, Kant did not live to edit it."
- See Ak 22, p. 758 (K. Christian Schoen).
- See Ak 22, p. 758.
- See Ak 22, 757f. I closely follow the summary given there.
- Förster, "Fichte, Beck and Schelling in Kant's Opus Postumum," p. 151. In his
"Kant's Selbstsetzungslehre," in Kant's Transcendental Deductions, ed. E. Förster
(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1989), pp. 217-238, Förster dates this "so¬
lution" to April 1799 (p. 224). If it is true that Kant found this "solution" at that
time, then it falls just into the period where his weakness began to become more
noticeable.
- Kant, Opus postumum, ed. Förster, p. 71 (Ak 21, p. 222).
no. SeeAk4, p. 515; pp. 4, 534, 564, 467; pp. 9, 67, for instance. In his Metaphysical
Foundations of Natural Science, Kant had indeed treated the "empirical concept"
of matter a priori, but only insofar as "the intuition corresponding to the con¬
cept" was given a priori (Ak 4, p. 470), that is, insofar as it is spatial and temporal.
"Ether," being a much richer (and thus more questionable) concept, could not
be treated in this way without collapsing into the concept of "matter."
in. Kant, Opus postumum, ed. Förster, p. 74 (Ak 21, p. 226).
- Compare Förster, "Fichte, Beck and Schelling in Kant's Opus Postumum,''p. 153.
- Ak 21, p. 490; I follow Förster, "Fichte, Beck and Schelling in Kant's Opus Pos¬
tumum," p. I54f. Even though I am much more critical of Kant's supposed achieve¬
ments than is Förster, I have benefited tremendously from his discussion.
- Maker, Kant in Rede und Gespräch, p. 595.
- Friedman, Kant and the Exact Sciences, p. 240. Friedman's judicious discussion
of the development of chemistry during the eighties and nineties in relation to
Kant's thought should be consulted by anyone wanting to understand Kant's
motivations in the Transitions project. Some of Kant's personal acquaintances are
important sources for understanding his interest in chemistry. Pastor Sommer
